


Two of Us Painting Faces

by kgmps2



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, alternate universe: Calliope predominates, alternate universe: no game, alternate universe: trolls and humans on the same planet, asexual Nepeta, non-sexual affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-06 11:21:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3132602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kgmps2/pseuds/kgmps2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nepeta and Calliope team up to bring Callie Ohpeee to life again.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>So Calliope obviously can't have what she would consider traditional sex with non-cherubs, right? I'd like to see an exploration of a different kind of intimacy in a relationship between Callie and another girl.</p>
</blockquote>
            </blockquote>





	Two of Us Painting Faces

**Author's Note:**

  * For [obsidianlullaby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/obsidianlullaby/gifts).



"Nepeta?"

"What is it, sweetie?"

The two greenbloods were sitting at a table in their shared residence, drawing mostly in silence. But Nepeta could tell her matesprit had something weighing on her mind — something that had probably been bothering the cherub for quite some time, and that Calliope only now had the courage to mention.

"It doesn't bother you that I can't… you know…"

Nepeta tilted her head, not understanding what Calliope was hinting at. The cherub ducked her head in embarassment, and Nepeta had to slide her ass receptacle over to Calliope.

"Callie, it's OK, whatefur it is. I'm not gonna judge you, so can you please just say it?" Nepeta put her arm around Calliope's shoulders, scritching reassuringly. One thing she loved about Calliope's skeletal cherub body was that her dark green skin was tougher than a troll's, and even Nepeta's sharp claws had no danger of tearing it.

Calliope had buried her face in her hands, but slowly she lowered her arms and looked to Nepeta's face.

"Well… doesn't it bother you that I can't pail with you?"

Taken aback, Nepeta almost giggled. She'd worried it had been something serious. But she didn't want to trivialize Calliope's concern, so she kept a straight face.

"Not a bit! In fact, it's pawnestly more of a relief than anything. Even though the purractice of pail-or-die is obsofleate, there's still… you know, purressure to do that sorta stuff with your quadrants. And I was kinda glad to know you wouldn't ever ask me to."

Calliope boggled slightly.

"Really? Am I that unattractive, or—"

"No, no!" Nepeta hurriedly cut Calliope off. "You're beautiful. I don't really want to pail with anyone, that's all. It… honestly sounds kinda hissgusting to me."

Calliope seemed slightly skeptical, but she relaxed into Nepeta's arm.

"Okay. I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that."

"I furgive you," Nepeta said lightly, kissing Calliope's lime-green cheek. "Besides, we've been dancing around the catter for months, and I was worried we'd nefur directly… you know, talk about it."

Calliope laughed as well, picking up her pencil again.

"I do wish there was a way I could make it up to you… not that you'd want compensation, but…"

She trailed off, and the two lapsed into silence again.

* * *

A few days later, as Calliope was washing dishes, Nepeta had an idea.

"Hey, remempurr how the other day we were talking?"

"About what?" said Calliope lightly as she scrubbed away at a particularly stubborn chunk of meat. It was clear from her tone of voice that she knew exactly what Nepeta meant.

"Well, I was thinking of ways to… you know, get intimate… that _didn't_ involve you turning into a ninety-million-mile-long snake."

Calliope snorted and dropped the plate she was scrubbing into the soapy water. "What did you think of?"

"I remembered what you told me about that trollsona you made up when you were younger."

"Are you suggesting I somehow turn into an overpowered, white-haired troll so we can bone? I think my shapeshifting powers only let me turn into a snake."

Nepeta laughed.

"No, that's not what I was about to say! And besides, I still think that stuff's purretty gross."

"Well, then what's your point?"

"I'm getting there, don't furry. If I reclaw correctly, befur you predominated, you were in the habit of cosplaying as your trollsona."

Calliope folded her arms, turning around and looking at the floor.

"Yes, because I always would rather have been hatched a troll. Even now, I still can't shake that feeling."

Nepeta stepped forward and put her hands on Calliope's shoulders, looking up into the cherub's bright green eyes.

"Shh, Calliope, it's okay. I understand. What I was going to suggest, if you don't find the idea too purrpawsterous, is that we get some body paint, and bring back Callie Ohpeee, even if it's just fur one night."

Calliope giggled gently, meeting Nepeta's gaze.

"I… I think I would actually like that quite a bit, Nepeta. Thank you."

* * *

The next evening, Nepeta came home with a few bags and a grin on her face.

"Hey, kitten, wanna try out the idea tonight? I went ahead and purrchased everything we'll need."

Calliope rolled her eyes at the pet name, but smiled, hurrying into the entryblock to greet Nepeta.

"Already? I'd love to, of course, but I was assuming you meant 'some vague time in the future' rather than 'tomorrow night.'"

Nepeta paused.

"Well, we _can_ wait if you'd prefur…"

"No, no, we can start right away! Thank you for… being so speedy, I suppose? You're such a dear."

Calliope took a pair of the bags and kissed Nepeta on the cheek, then proceeded to the largest block in the hive, where there were ass receptacles and a coffee table. The two young women set their bags down on the floor and began pulling things out, setting them on the table.

"Okay, so I figured that furst of all, we'd want to make your horns. I found this moldable stuff that's suppawsed to be sturdy, lightweight, and quick-drying."

She produced a container with a quantity of small, white pellets.

"You add water to these," she explained, "and then they turn into this… _stuff_ you can mold in your hands like clay."

Next she pulled out some plastic bowls.

"We'll be doing a lot of mixing, and I didn't want to use the dishes we eat furom."

Calliope laughed, putting her hand gently on Nepeta's cheek.

"You sure put a lot of thought into this, didn't you?"

The troll flushed green, smiling at the praise.

"I do what I can. Now, let's get to work!"

Nepeta went into the food preparation block to mix the clay, and Calliope fetched some of the orange and yellow paints they already had in their home.

Nepeta smiled to herself as she scooped a handful of pellets into the bowl and held it under a faucet. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Calliope this excited about something. Kneading the doughy substance, she soon became absorbed in her thoughts and didn't snap out of her reverie until Calliope walked into the block.

"Is the stuff ready?"

"Hm? Oh, uh… yeah, it feels good to me!"

They carried the bowl into the area where they were going to make everything. Splitting the white dough into equal portions, they formed a pair of curly horns, chatting cheerily to each other while they worked.

Soon the horns were completed to Calliope's satisfaction, and they set them down to dry on some newsprint Calliope had laid out while Nepeta was in the food preparation block.

"Now what?" asked Calliope teasingly, as though she hadn't done this before.

"Well, I got some putty that we can use to… well, make your face look less like a skull. We'll round out your cheeks and give you a proper nose and ears."

Calliope frowned.

"I never did this part before…"

Nepeta froze, the jar of light grey putty in midair.

"Oh…" she said slowly, setting it down. "Well, we can skip over it, if you want. I just thought you'd want to make your cheekbones less purrominant."

Calliope touched her face thoughtfully.

"Hmm… I think it's worth giving a shot, actually."

Nepeta paused.

"Are you sure? I mean, this whole thing _is_ about _you_ , and I wouldn't want—"

Calliope shook her head.

"No, Nepeta. It's about _us_ , and I'll always welcome your ideas."

Nepeta smiled at Calliope, and the two looked into each others' eyes for a moment before Nepeta proceeded to open the jar.

First, Nepeta smoothed the thick, sticky putty over the dramatic hollows underneath Calliope's cheekbones. She then filled in the other areas where the cherub's skeletal features jutted out in ways that would look unnatural on a troll. The grey of the putty contrasted with Calliope's deep green skin, and Nepeta had to remind herself that they'd be painting all over that to get a uniform look.

"Okay, so I'm not too sure about my sculpting skills. Would you mind making your own ears? You can model them atfur mine, if you'd like."

Calliope laughed.

"Of course! I was feeling kind of awkward sitting here doing nothing!"

Nepeta turned her head while Calliope picked up a lump of putty. She felt the smooth, tough skin of Calliope's fingers brush hair out of the way, and as she sat waiting for the cherub to sculpt a replica of her left ear, her attention drifted.

"All done!" said Calliope, and Nepeta glanced back at her matesprit, who was holding a pair of grey pointed ears up to the sides of her head and grinning.

Nepeta held out her hand.

"Hey, can I get a closer look at this?"

Calliope gently placed her creation in Nepeta's waiting palm.

"Wow, this looks really neat! You're really good at this, Callie!"

Calliope ducked her head again, making a muffled squeak. Nepeta laughed, kissing her on one of the cherub's lime cheek circles.

"Thank you. But you were an even more excellent model."

It was Nepeta's turn to make a modest, embarrassed noise. Rushing to cover it up, she scooped another lump from the putty jar.

"What kind of nose would you like? Small and squishy like mine, or long and pointy, or curved, or…?"

"Hmmm…"

Calliope drummed her claws thoughtfully on the table.

"I'm thinking something pointy, if that's feasible with this putty. Pointy and straight."

Nepeta giggled.

"Okay, let's try out some ideas!"

The two experimented with the putty, testing out increasingly silly nose shapes. They laughed as Nepeta put a pig's snout over her own, and when Calliope formed a bird beak.

Finally, though, they were able to come up with something Calliope found satisfactory. They carefully stuck it onto her face, making sure that it wouldn't block her nostrils.

"You look really cute," said Nepeta as she gently smoothed the nose's edges onto Calliope's face. "This nose  _definitely_ suits you."

Calliope huffed quietly, pursing her lips. If cherubs could blush, her face would likely be a uniform shade of lime. "Thank you, love," she squeaked. Nepeta laughed and hugged her.

"Okay, so this next purrt is gonna be pretty time consmewming. Wanna stand up and stretch furst? Maybe get a snack?"

Calliope laughed.

"Really? I was always able to paint myself grey in one go without too much trouble. Then again, I knew I had limited time to… well, to be myself. So it's not like I was really able to take my time. I needed to be fast with both preparation and removal, after all."

Nepeta looked down nervously.

"Well, now you don't have those time constraints. Maybe it's just me, but I pawften have trouble working on just one thing for too long. I get kinda… restless."

Calliope blinked.

"Really? Well, if you'd like a break, I'd be happy to take one with you."

Nepeta still was a little nervous, but she felt relieved as well. Often she was able to tell when people were weirded out by her quirks, but Calliope always seemed so understanding. Sometimes Nepeta worried she was forcing Calliope to be  _too_ accommodating without making any compromises herself, but the cherub always assured her she was fine.

The two young women stood up, Nepeta stretching her arms above her head and arcing her back, and went into the food preparation block to get some water. When they were done drinking it, Calliope stepped up to the window, turning her head and trying to check her reflection.

"How do I look?"

"Beautiful," said Nepeta without thinking, but then she actually looked. "Well, the colors are kinda weird right now, but we'll be able to paint over that. You look purretty diffurent with cheeks and a nose and stuff, but… well, you still look like you. Especially your beautiful eyes."

Calliope smiled softly. "Thank you very much. Shall we get to the body paint?"

Nepeta set down her glass and nodded. "Yeah!"

They reentered the block where they'd been preparing Calliope's cosplay.

"Okay, so how much do you want to cover? At the furry least we'd be doing your face and neck, but how much of your arms do you want to paint? I've got enough makeup that it shouldn't be a purroblem."

Calliope thought for a moment.

"Normally, I'd only do my face and hands, but that was because I didn't want to spend half my time awake on preparation." She indicated a spot on her arm a couple inches down from her shoulder. "If we cover up to here, I could wear a shirt with shorter sleeves."

"Is that what you'd wanna do, then?"

"Yeah!"

Calliope paused.

"That is, if you don't mind… um… me taking off my shirt. These sleeves are so long, and I don't want them to interfere…"

"I don't have a purroblem with that," said Nepeta softly, resting her hand on Calliope's shoulder. "If you're self-conscious about it, you  _could_ wear a sleeveless shirt."

Calliope thought for several moments.

"No, I… I think I'l be fine. Thank you for the offer, though."

"I'm glad to help!" said Nepeta, beaming.

Carefully, so as not to disturb the putty Nepeta had applied to her face, Calliope removed her shirt. The oliveblood helped her out of it, then picked up one of the plastic bowls.

"Can you look at the directions for the pawdy paint?"

Calliope squinted. "Uh… what?"

Nepeta blushed. "Sorry, I mean body paint."

"Oh, okay!" Calliope picked up the small container of powder and read aloud the directions. The two returned to the food preparation block and began mixing the makeup.

"Wanna just do this purrt in here? It'll be easier to clean up spills furom the floor than in the other block."

Calliope agreed, and Nepeta picked up a makeup sponge. Starting at her upper arms, where Calliope had indicated, Nepeta began gently swabbing the first coat of grey paint onto her matesprit's skin. She wasn't sure whether she'd need two or three coats, but she knew that just one wouldn't do. The skin had an interesting texture, Nepeta thought. Although cherubs seemed to be similar to reptiles, they didn't have scales. As she spread the makeup onto the tough green skin, she noted the lack of body hair. It only made sense, she mused, since Calliope didn't have any head hair or eyebrows.

She was startled out of her train of thought when Calliope spoke up.

"You know, I  _can_ do this on my own."

"Hm? Oh, do you want to?"

"Well, not particularly. I was just… voicing the thought. It feels different, having someone assist me. It's nice, though."

Nepeta laughed. "You're a sweetheart," she said as she finished up the first arm. 

The next few minutes passed in silence as Nepeta finished applying the first coat to both of Calliope's arms. At this point the makeup in the bowl ran out, and Nepeta mixed another batch.

"Would you like to do your own face, lovely?"

"Yes, that would be nice."

Calliope took the makeup sponge and expertly began applying the stuff to her now-round cheeks. "Would you be a dear and go fetch a mirror?" she asked as she rubbed the paint onto her cheeks.

"Yeah, sure." Nepeta went into the ablution block and pulled a handheld mirror out of a drawer. When she returned, she held it in front of Calliope as the cherub worked on her own face. Once she was done with her face, Nepeta applied makeup to the back of her neck.

They repeated the process of painting over Calliope's arms, neck, and face once more, then applied the setting powder. Once this was done, they returned to the block where they'd been working, not really bothering to clean up the small mess.

"Okay, so it's been just over an hour, so the horns  _should_ be dry by now," said Nepeta. "It's time to attach them to your headband, right?"

"Right," said Calliope with a smile. Nepeta noticed she kept glancing at the grey parts of her body and smiling to herself. Her pusher fluttered slightly. Seeing Calliope looking pleased always made her realize just how much she loved her. Nepeta thought some more about this as Calliope, who had experience with this, did the work of drilling small holes into the base of the horns and affixing them to the white headband.

"Okay, so what's left to do?" said Nepeta, mostly to herself. "We've done your horns, some contouring, and your body paint. Now… uh…"

"Not too much. There's the wig, the clothes, and, if you got them, the fake teeth."

Nepeta nodded.

"All righty. I've also got a bottle of yellow nail polish, if you want to do your nails?"

Calliope clapped.

"Oh, yes! That would be splendid!"

"How about cheek swirls?"

"Hmm… that was always one of my more whimsical touches…"

"I think they're cute."

"Ah, fine, what the hell. Even though trolls don't have them, I've always liked my cheeks."

Nepeta laughed, then fetched a black shirt with Calliope's symbol, a lime-green eyeliner pencil she'd found, and her black lipstick. She brought them to Calliope, who put them on.

"You look so nice," said Nepeta, tilting her head and smiling. 

"Thank you, dear," said Calliope, pecking her matesprit on the cheek. 

It took less than a minute for Calliope to put on her wig and horns. Nepeta helped her apply the golden nail polish, and after that, she looked just like a troll. Well, except for the eye, teeth, and hair colors. But neither Nepeta nor Calliope really cared about that.

Nepeta found the camera, then took a series of pictures of Calliope. After that, they simply did their normal activities with Calliope in full cosplay.

"Thank you so much, Nepeta," said Calliope gently as they got ready to remove the makeup. "This really means a lot to me."

"Anything for you, cutie!"

* * *

Later, as they stood in the shower and Nepeta helped Calliope scrub off her makeup, Calliope started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Nepeta?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Next time we do this… we're using armsocks."

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for this prompt! as an asexual person myself, it was a blast to see that someone else was interested in seeing ace stuff.  
> in case you're confused, "ass receptacle" means chair. someone used it in a roleplay once, and I thought the term was so funny, it stuck with me.  
> also, I came up with an extensive alternate universe wherein trolls and humans exist on different planets in the same solar system and cherubs just sort of… exist. somehow. they turn into long-ass snakes to reproduce, they can probably do space exploration type shit. at this point in time, humans and trolls live on both planets, but the troll planet is still mainly trolls, and the human planet is mainly humans, although a good number of lowbloods live there as well. Nepeta and Calliope live together on the human planet.


End file.
